By John Ikani
Cries from Gabonese protesters at an auctioning house in France demanding “restitution” of a “stolen” carved mask from Central Africa, fell on deaf ears as the 19th century artefact was sold for 4.2 million euros ($4.6 million) on Saturday.
The artefact identified as a rare wooden “Ngil” mask, is of great significance to the Fang ethnic people of Gabon who use it ceremonies.
The piece of art smashed its estimate of 300,000-400,000 euros at the auction in the southern French city of Montpellier.
In 2006 a similar Fang mask brought in 2.09 million euros at a Paris auction.
With added costs and fees, the total paid by the successful bidder for the Fang mask was 5.25 million euros, close to a record for such an item.
“It’s a case of receiving stolen goods,” a man describing himself as a member of the Gabonese community in Montpellier exclaimed from the back of the auction room, surrounded by half a dozen compatriots.
“We’ll file a complaint. Our ancestors, my ancestors, from the Fang community, we will recover this object”, the protester added, describing the mask as a “colonial ill-gotten gain”.
Auctioneer Jean-Christophe Giuseppi said the auction was “entirely legal”, as far as he was aware.
Accompanied by security guards, the demonstrators left the auction hall calmly but continued their protest against the sale of African works of art.
Saturday’s auction also included a Congolese chair which sold for 44,000 euros.
